So this made me chuckle. What is your worst habit? It makes the assumption that I just have one! I have many “worst” habits that are all equally as bad. I was able to narrow it down to what I believe are my top 3 worst habits.

Impulse buying
I have a terrible habit of shopping on impulse. I don’t usually take the time to think through a purchase. If I want something, I just buy it. Or should I say charge it. I’m not a “large ticket” purchaser, but believe me, the little things add up just as quickly. When I was in my twenties, I honestly think that I spent more time at the mall then I did at home. I would buy bags and bags of clothes and shoes. Half of which would hang in my closet and never be worn and eventually would end up in a charity bag with the tags still on them. I also have a tendency to get interested in some type of hobby and have to buy not just the staple supplies to get started, but end up buying way more then needed. These items would most often then not, end up in a box because I would either be to busy or would have lost interest in doing the specific hobby. So just like the cloths, the majority of what I purchased would either be given away or thrown away.
This bad habit has had many adverse consequences. First, it has kept me in a constant state of debt, which I am working on reducing in 2019. Second, it has been a huge factor in the overwhelming amount of clutter and items that I am now trying to de-clutter from my home and life.

Stress eating
Stress eating is a bad habit that I am having a difficult time overcoming. Work is where I seem to have the hardest time with this. There are two obvious reasons for this. One is that work is where I usually encounter my greatest amount of stress. Between the pressures of work load and the stresses of regular work “drama”, I often find myself having the hardest time keeping away from all the junk food that is always around. There is an open area table at my work where people are always putting food out. Snack type food. Nothing healthy of course. I have to walk by this table every time I need to go to the printer. When I’m having an exceptionally stressful day, this is torture! I just want to grab all the candy or cookies and shove them all in my mouth.

My inability to say NO!
I have a terrible habit of not being able to say no! When it comes to social situations or work tasks, I have a really hard time saying no to anything that is asked of me. I tend to hold an extreme amount of guilt when/if I actually do say no to anything. Which is why I just find it easier to say yes all of the time.
At work, my workload is already over the top. I am always behind and yet when someone needs something done, I always agree to do it. I usually end up cursing myself later, but in the moment, I automatically say “Oh sure. No problem!”. WHAT? Of course it’s a problem. I could probably work 24 hours a day for 6 months straight and still not get done with all the work that is already backlogged on my desk. Yet, there I go again… taking on more.
Social situations tend to be tough for me as well. Sometimes I am just exhausted and really need a break. Yet, I am always saying yes to going places and doing things. Even if inside I’m beating myself up because I really just want to stay in my PJs and lay on the couch all day and recompress.

Breaking bad habits can be incredibly challenging. All three of the habits I mentioned here are ones that I am really trying hard to reduce if not eliminate in 2019. Being accountable and conscious of our bad habits is the first step in trying to break them.

“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do”. -Sean Covey